


Fleas

by AsinineK9



Category: Hustle Cat (Visual Novel)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sickfic, Whump, hustle cat - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-15 09:23:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20863919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsinineK9/pseuds/AsinineK9
Summary: There's just not enough Hustle Cat fanfics out there.Hayes has been missing from work for... too long. Landry is starting to get worried, especially since there's been no word from Hayes about the matter. When Landry visits Hayes' apartment to find out what the siamese cat has been up to, he finds that he's been ravaged by fleas. Healing, care, and fluffiness ensue.





	Fleas

**Author's Note:**

> Woot woot! I'm super late to the party with this fandom. There's only like 7 people left in the whole fandom, seriously. And most of the fanfics I've read were last updated about 2ish years ago. Oh well. Here's for the people like me who couldn't find any Hustle Cat fics but really want some!
> 
> Why not leave kudos or a comment? It'll let me know you liked the story, and it's completely free! Also, head on over to my Tumblr (@funkyfreshwhump) and give me prompts!

Hayes is a good worker.

He makes coffee, he'll (reluctantly) cover shifts, he'll tell his coworkers, or Landry at least, when he'll be missing work. But in the past few days, Hayes was out, and hadn't told anyone. Not even Landry. And it was bugging him.

Landry... wasn't very good at coffee. But with Graves always gone, Reese and Avery managing crowd control, Finley being Jelly Donut, and Mason always being busy in the kitchen, someone had to do it. As a test run, Landry made some coffee for himself and the rest of the crew for breakfast. Finley tried it first and gave him the benefit of the doubt, but in comes brutally honest Mason to tell him that it was, quote, 'God awful'. She received a swift elbow to the ribs from Finley for that. Unfortunately for himself and his self esteem, she was completely right. It was worse than Avery's brown water coffee that they made when they started working at A Cat's Paw.

Junta pawed at his leg.

"Would you like to try some of the coffee I made, Junta?" He picked the soft cat up and held it in front of his face. Junta meowed.

Landry smiled. "You just want Hayes." Junta meowed again and wiggled in Landry's hands.

"Seriously, does anyone know where he is?" Finley asked with a mouthful of whatever Mason made. They had not touched the coffee. A wise choice.

"He's... a cat..." Avery glanced at the people around the table, almost to re-confirm that's how the curse works, "...so he can't answer his phone, right?"

"You'd be surprised." Landry chimed and smiled, remembering the first time he saw his best friend try to type something on his phone as a cat, but his smile dropped when he delivered his next piece of information. "But I haven't heard anything from him."

"Landry, you two live in the same apartment complex, right?" Finley asked, getting up to make some real coffee for the table.

"Yeah?"

"Why not check on him after work?" Landry had thought about that while getting ready to leave in the morning, but decided against it. Hayes had never said it, but he was pretty uncomfortable with other people being in his apartment. That was his own private space where he didn't have to worry about work or talking to other people or putting effort into things. When he was in his apartment, that's when he had his alone time. If anyone needed him for any reason, they could text him and ask to meet at the cafe. But... although the boy was antisocial, it was strange to not hear from him for so long.

"Yeah. I'll let you guys know what's up." Landry had whatever stray bites were left on his plate before going to clean the dishes from last night. Obviously, Hayes wasn't there to do them, so they didn't get done. He ended up feeling a little bad that Hayes had to clean the dishes by himself every night.

In the midst of bringing one of the dishes to the drying rack, it slipped from Landry's hands, dropping and shattering on the floor. Landry just sighed and went to get a broom. When he came back, he saw Finley kneeling on the ground, picking up some pieces of porcelain with a paper towel.

"Thanks Fin, but we open soon, and based on the long line, the people want Jelly Donut. Plus, Mason is going to kill me for making a mess in the kitchen, and I don't want her to think you were involved." He nervously scratched behind his head.

"I'm not worried about Mason and what she's gonna say," She stood up, "I'm worried about you."

"Me? Why? You don't need to be, I'm fine." He was genuinely a little shocked that Finley was worried. Why would she worry about him? He wasn't acting any different than usual.

"You just seem... depressed. Off your game. Not your usual chippy self." She dumped the broken plate in the trash. When Landry didn't have an answer, she tentatively suggested something. "Are you that worried about Hayes?"

Landry's shoulders dropped. Well, he was more than just a bit worried about Hayes. Did it show that much?

He shrugged.

"Aww, poor Landry!" She hugged him. "I'm sure he's fine, just taking a few personal days. The days before he left were pretty busy, so I think the stress just overloaded him. He would tell us if anything was wrong." She mumbled into his neck, squeezing his midsection tightly. But that's the thing about Hayes. He never tells anyone if anything is wrong. He'll tell you that he's fine, in fact he'll tell you over and over again that he's fine until you stop worrying about him.

She pulled away from the hug. "Besides, you said you were going to check in on him at his apartment after work, right?"

Landry nodded.

"Then just forget about it until then." But there was no 'it'. This wasn't an 'it' situation, this was the boy he had a crush on since he started working at the cafe. The boy whose rare smile could make any bad day a good one, the boy he sat and worked through panic attacks with when he found out about the curse, the boy whose sweater he couldn't stop imagining himself in.

"Don't mess up one of my Jelly Donut days, Landry." She said with a fake serious face, trying to lighten his mood. It helped a little.

"Alright, I'll finish cleaning this up and then get to work. Doors should be open by then."

____

He really did manage to get wrapped up in his work to the point where he forgot about Hayes being gone. A Cat's Paw was packed all day- Avery was freaking out, Reese was freaking out, Finley- er, Jelly Donut was almost getting stepped on every way she turned. No one was listening to the two on crowd control, until Landry, being the level-headed mom that he is, got Finley some room, and told Avery to take over coffee so he could make sure Reese wasn't going to be trampled.

Avery's coffee was good, no doubt, but not as good as Hayes'. The crew just had to lie and say the espresso machine broke down during morning prep, because everyone knew that Hayes and sometimes Graves were the only ones who could make an edible espresso.

The day was long, and every moment dragged on. A watched pot never boils, but damn if Landry couldn't swear that the clock was broken. Eventually, the day did end. Even Mason said she would do dishes so he could head out early- was there really that much of a change in his actions?

Landry thanked Mason and took off early. He ran- he had to, he couldn't get very far very fast as a main coon. That's the one thing he hated most about being a cat, he couldn't get places.

He couldn't knock on the door, obviously, so he pawed at it for a bit to no avail. He meowed an mewled until he heard someone from inside another apartment yell 'shut your cat UP!', which Landry didn't appreciate.

The short fluff ball was getting desperate. If Hayes wasn't at the cafe, he was in his apartment. Where else would he have gone? Landry backed up a few feet, took a breath, and charged forward, headfirst into the door in front of him. With a CLUNK and an "OW!", he fell to the floor, defeated. He was about to turn around and smash his face into the wood again, until he heard a small "Hello?"

"Hayes?" Landry perked up.

"Landry? Go- go away!" A timid, muffled voice said from behind the door.

"Hayes, I just want to know if you're okay! Everyone at the cafe wants to know where you've been." Landry sat and lowered his voice as to not scare his friend.

"I'm fine! I-I'm okay, Landry, tell them I'm okay." The way he spoke didn't convince the skeptical main coon.

"I really don't believe that." Then, he thought for a moment. "I won't tell anyone if you're not okay- and I know you're not. We can get through whatever this is together, and no one will have to know what happened."

A moment of silence passed while Hayes debated if he wanted to keep being alone and not be severely embarrassed, or let Landry in and... put him at risk. In the end, he decided that as much as he didn't like the idea, four paws would be better than two. Or technically eight is better than four?

"...you promise not to tell anyone?"

Relief washed over Landry. "Of course I promise."

Hayes managed to open the door somehow, and Landry pushed it closed after walking in.

"Don't get too close to me." His tail was raised in warning. Landry's relief turned into cold blooded fear. Landry's eyes were immediately drawn to the lack of Hayes in Hayes. The only word to come to Landry's mind was gaunt. Then, he saw the red, matted fur that looked nothing like his usual white siamese self. Bite marks, scratch marks, puss, blood. Not only that, but he was shivering.

Landry expected him to just start explaining, after all, as this wasn't something that needed prompting.

"How... what..." he shook his head, and took a step closer. In response, the siamese took a step back. "What happened to you?"

"I don't know how, but I got fleas." Upon mention of the bugs, he got itchy and scratched an already bleeding spot on his ear. Landry's heart broke at the sight. He didn't know anything about fleas. Graves and Reese always took care of the new strays before they were released into the cafe, so if any had come in sick, Landry didn't know.

"For how long?"

"Maybe a week? I only started to notice them a few days ago, when I started taking days off from the cafe." Hayes didn't look like he wanted to answer any more questions. In the condition he's in, the fleas could be life-threatening, especially for such a small cat. He just wanted help, and needed it even more.

Well, Landry isn't as good with his paws as he is with his hands, so he suggested going to the cafe. Hayes usually felt comfortable in the cafe, but at the notion, he tensed.

"You can wait around back while I check to see if anyone is still in there." Landry added. The small cat nodded, jumped up to open the door (though it took a few tries and almost all of the energy left in him), and followed the bigger cat out.

While walking, slowly because of Hayes' lack of energy, Landry couldn't help but notice all the little things. How the siamese limped a little, stopped every so often to scratch himself, sneezed when the little brown bugs ran across his face and tickled his nose. He fell one time, short of breath, and Landry almost went to help him up, but the boy absolutely refused as he didn't want his friend to be infected like he was.

Landry turned back to his human form once they reached the cafe grounds.

"Hayes, I think it'd be easier for us to... fix things, if you stay in your cat form." While that was true, the full honesty of why Landry wanted Hayes to stay as a cat was because he knew he would break down if he saw human Hayes covered in scratches, scars, bugs, and irrationally thin. Landry could already fit his fingers around the boy's wrists, he didn't want to see him any thinner. Hayes nodded.

Hayes hid under the windows while Landry made sure the coast was clear, and it was. Both boys rushed to the kitchen to avoid spreading the bugs to the strays.

Landry went on his phone and looked up whatever solution he could find to get fleas off of cats.

"We need dish soap, and you'll need to get in the sink." Landry wanted to respect Hayes' boundaries, even if he was sick, but after too many bruises from failed attempts at jumping up onto the counter, Landry asked if he could be of any assistance, and Hayes reluctantly submitted. Such a small thing affected both Landry and Hayes greatly; the siamese that could usually jump great distances was now too weak to make it a few feet up.

Landry fetched some dish soap and tweezers while Hayes did anything to temporarily take the pain away.

"Okay, I'm going to have to... touch you." There was no right way to say it.

"...Yeah, I know." Hayes knew, but he didn't want to believe it. He didn't want to believe any of this was happening, he was supposed to fix it himself and go back to working at the cafe like nothing happened.

First, Landry put a ring of dish soap around Hayes' neck to drive the fleas to either his head or his body. He purposefully didn't tell Hayes exactly what he'd be doing, because he would be sure the boy would refuse. Plus, it's not like Landry could say it out loud without crying, anyway.

The plan was to put a ring of soap around the poor cat's neck to drive the fleas to either his body or his face. Then, he would massage more soap onto his body so the fleas that were there would die, and so would the eggs. The worst part was the last part, unfortunately. The fleas that weren't killed by the soap on his body would be driven to his face, where Landry would have to pick them off one by one as they ran around and dug into fur.

Hayes purred when Landry started rubbing the soap into his neck, which soon turned to a shriek and a hiss.

"Ouch ouch ouch!- Sorry Landry, that wasn't directed it you, it just- agh!" He winced and twitched, and Landry took his hands of the cat in fear of hurting him. "The soap is getting into some open cuts." Hayes wanted to scratch or rub at the burning, but knew that would only make things worse.

Landry tentatively returned his hands. "The sooner we do this, the sooner it will stop hurting." He tried to help the poor boy.

"So, um, what's next?" Hayes asked, trying to hide the pain literally nipping at him.

"...I have to put the soap on the rest of your body."

Hayes obviously didn't like the sound of it, giving involuntary puppy eyes to Landry. Hayes didn't move and just braced for what was to come.

What was to come was absolute torture. Hayes had never felt such pain in his life as Landry gently rubbed the dish soap under every follicle of fur, making sure not to miss any spots. He could barely hear Landry over hissing, whimpering, and general "Landry, please, make it stop"s, but he thought the tall boy said something about ten minutes. He would have to stay in that agony for ten whole minutes.

Landry wasn't in as much physical pain as the small cat writhing before him, but the sight of him took an emotional toll for sure.

"Landry... it burns! Stop, stop..." He spoke to no one, Landry was sure he didn't even know he spoke. Landry was at his own breaking point. Surely they could wait one more day to do this, find some dark-web painless way to rid a cat of fleas, get Hayes out of this. The one he loved so dearly was lying in pain before him- pain that he couldn't fix. Landry fixes things. He makes things better for other people, builds things, doesn't tear them to bits, doesn't let things break down. Landry was helpless and couldn't do anything to soothe Hayes.

The level of panic rose.

Landry was spacing out, more really internally freaking out but not showing it because if Landry showed that he thought things weren't going to be okay Hayes would freak out and think the same, but snapped out of his trance when Hayes stopped mumbling incoherent rambles and started to panic.

"There's- Landry!" He called out for Landry, helplessly hoping Landry could do something. Thankfully, this time Landry could. He wasn't going to wait four more minutes, even if that's what the instructions said.

The 'there' Hayes was referring to was the many jumping brown dots scattering across the bridge of his nose. While it was awful to see and awful to feel, that was the intent of putting the soap everywhere except his face. The fleas that were still alive would run to his face where Landry could easily grab them with his tweezers.

Landry couldn't hold back anymore, and a single sob ripped through his throat. It hit him that Hayes might not be able to make it, being in the condition he's in. But Landry had to keep it together for Hayes.

He gently rested Hayes' small head in one hand, and plucked the fleas off one by one, sure he cursed at a few of them but too focused on getting the next one to notice.

The process was slow, and they both suspected it would be. Landry combed through Hayes' fur with his fingers to find them, and Hayes helped by telling where he felt itchy spots or tingling.

After about twenty minutes and no more itchy spots, Landry suspected he got them all. He was going to give Hayes another flea bath in a few days whether he liked it or not. Landry refused to take the chance of his friend getting in the condition he saw when he first opened the door. Blood, puss, scars, little brown dots everywhere.

He found a nice water temperature that he thought wouldn't scold Hayes' cuts too badly.

Hayes didn't hurt so much anymore, in fact, Landry felt him relax while under the warm water as the soap was massaged out of his fur.

Landry felt a little better about Hayes' condition and how he would turn out when he was wrapped up in a towel, front paws sticking out and clinging to Landry's shirt for dear life. Landry smiled, knowing that the worst of it was over. Also because his crush was snuggled up to his chest, but he'd never admit that.

"So...cold..." he shivered against his best friend's chest. 

"Lets go rest on the couch, okay? I'll warm you up there." Something Landry read on the article about how to get rid of fleas was how important keeping the cat warm after the bath is. Sure, the article may have been about keeping fleas off of kittens and how kittens need to be kept warm, but he wanted to keep Hayes warm as well just to be sure. Not as an excuse to cuddle or anything.

After a few minutes of Hayes shivering while cradled in Landry's lap, his breathing evened out, and Landry assumed him asleep. Landry was exhausted too- from the Jelly Donut day as well as the whole fleas dilemma. He laid down on the couch, stretching his legs and gently shifting Hayes to lay on his chest. He followed in the boy's paw-steps and quickly passed out.

Their rude awakening came by the sound of click click from Finley's phone. Hayes came to the realization of what Finley was doing long after Landry.

"Finley, stop it!" Landry yelled. Hayes flinched and the loud noise. 

"What's going- F-Finley!" Hayes scattered out of the towel and into the kitchen, probably to the bathroom in the back to hide. Landry gave her a look.

"What? It's not my fault that you two look so cute together!" She winked at him. "What am I supposed to do, not take pictures?"

"Yes. Exactly that, actually." And while he was a little mad at her because he knew Hayes was camera shy, well... "Send them to me," he whispered.

Finley sat on the couch next to Landry as he stayed laying down. "So..." Landry knew that tone. Finley was about to ask something potentially sneaky, romantic, or dirty. "The kitchen was an absolute mess when Mason came in this morning. She kinda wants to kick your ass. What exactly did you two do last night? Each other?"

The boy blushed hard and sat up. "Finley!" She snickered in response.

"I'll send the pictures. And Hayes in his cat form? I didn't know you were one for bestiality, Landry." She got up and started to walk back towards the kitchen.

"FINLEY!"

"Furry!"

He didn't bother yelling back. Then, a familiar pink hoodie coming out of the kitchen door caught his attention out of the corner of his eye.

"Hayes." Landry called. The blond turned to him, hood up, and he smiled. "Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm a little hungry," the concern in his friend's eyes made him feel guilty, "but um, Mason is cooking now, so I'll have some of what she makes."

Though the hoodie shaded his face well, Landry easily told that he was pale, thinner than usual, and covered in red bug bites and scratches. But, he looked better. Seeing him smile made everything seem okay.

"Landry, can I ask a favor?" Hayes rarely asks for things on the premise that he doesn't want to bother people, so Landry wondered what he would say.

"Sure, anything." He watched attentively as the boy fidgeted with his hoodie sleeves.

"There are probably still some... you know... alive in my apartment, and I mean I know I could just sleep on Grave's couch, but ever since Nacht and that whole thing I just get scared being alone in the cafe by myself-"

"Why don't you come to my apartment until the... you-know-whats die out? We'd both be cats, so my bed would be big enough for two." He knew what Hayes was getting at, so he just suggested it before Hayes got too embarrassed and backed out. He also wanted Hayes at his house so he could keep an eye on those scratches and bites, and take care of the boy. If Hayes were any braver, he'd ask Landry if his bed would be big enough for two even if they weren't cursed.

"That would be great! Thanks, Landry."

"Yeah, anytime." Landry smiled.

"..."

"..."

The boys just looked at each other for a while, blushing and smiling.

"Well, uh, I-I should go warm up the espresso machine."

"Yeah, um, I gotta... tables."

"Right."

"Right."


End file.
